Improvement in hay and cotton presses



i UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

WILBUR READ, OF GREENVOOD, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAY AND COTTON PRESSES.

Speeilication forming part'of Letters Patent No. 40,0611, dated September 22,1863; antedated October 17, 1862.

.To @ZZ wwn't it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, WILBUR READ, of Greenwood, in the county of El Dorado and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Cotton and Hay Press, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,mak ing a part of this specification, in which- Figure lis atop view of the improved press and ahorizontal section through the box thereof.. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through Fig. l in the vertical plane indicated by the course of red line g/ y thereon. Fig. 8 is an end elevation of the improved press, showing in seetion the bearings of the shafts of the two drums on which the ropes are alternately wound and unwound.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre` sponding parts ,in the three figures.

This invention relates to an improvement applying power to a cotton or hay press.

The object of the invention is to communicate the required alternate pressing and releasing movement to the follower of a cottonpress from the continued circular motion of a common sweep or lever to which a horse is attached, or to stop the movement of the follower at pleasure while the horse continues to walk in a circle.-

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to dev scribe its construction and operation.

A is the horizontal frame or base of the ma` chine.

B B B B are four perpendicular posts projecting up from frame A, which are securely braced and tied together, for supporting the quadrangular press-box B', within which works the follower or pressing-head C.

Cis a fiat board, which rests on frame A, and forms the bottom ofthe press-box. Two sides of the press-box B are removable for supplying the box with cotton and removing the bales. This press-box and follower, it will be seen, are constructed similarly to those in common use.

Ahorizon-beam, D,passes transversely across press-box B', which allow the bar to receive a vertical movement; and on the extreme ends of beam D hooks b b are secured, to which the single pulley-blocks D D are attached. Over the top of beam D a strong iron brace, b,is secured,to give additional strength to this beam, and to the midde of the beam D arope or chain, c, is secured, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. This rope c passes up from beam D, and is earriedover a pulley, c', in the upper end of a post, D2, which is rigidly secured to one side of the press-box frame B, as shown in Fig. 1.

E E are two double pulley-blocks,\vhieh are rigidly secured down to frame A-one on each side of the pressbox B', and directly under pulley-blocks D D. The straps e e are used to secure the blocks E E down in their places. Through these four pulley-blocks D D and E E', which I have just described, ropes are passed, as will be hereinafter described,which ropes are operated so as to' alternately draw up and pull down the follower-block O.

Frame A extends out some distance from the press, and on the opposite end of this frame A a perpendicular frame, F, is constructed and securely'braced. This frame F should be made of heavy timber, and the inelined braces F F should be used to resist the strain put upon frame F. Vithin this frame F two drums, G G, have their bearings, as shown in Figs. Zand 3of the drawings. These drums stand in perpendicular positions, side by side,\vitha space between them. Through the drum G a shaft, g, passes, and has its bearings in the horizontal sillAand cross-beam F. The shaft turns loosely in drum G, and the upper end of this shaft g extends up some distance above beam F, and receives a hub, g', which is keyed to the shaft g. To this hub f/ a long horizontal sweep or lever, II, is secured, to the outer end of which a horse is to be hitched, and as he walks in a circle he turns the shaft g. Above the drum G and keyed to shaft g is a spur-wheel, 7L, having a hub portion, h', formed on its lower side, which portion has a clutch-tooth, t', onit, that will engage with a similar tooth, which is formed on the top of drum G, when the shaft g is depressed, and thus connect the drum G-with its shaft g,- but when the shaft g is raised to the position indicated in red lines, Fig. 3 of the drawings, the drum G will not be lcoupled to its shaft nor be turned by it. The vertical drum G has its lower end bearings in the sill A, and its upper end bearings in a sliding plate, 7c, which is placed on the beam F, and which is moved back and forth in a direction with the length of this beam by a short lever, m, which is shown in Fig. 3, and aspring-rod, Z, also shown in Fig. 3. This movement of plate 7s just described is intended to engage the spur-wheel h on shaft g with a pinion spurwheel, j, which is keyed to the upper end of drum G', orto disengage these two spur-wheels as it is found desirable by rocking the upper end ofthe drum G.

To the upper end of the short upright lever m, which moves the plate k, as described, a horizontal lever, p, is pivoted, having a hook, p', on its outer end, which is hooked over the end of beam F when it is desired to keep the wheel j disengaged from wheel h. The end or arm of lever p opposite to the hooked end is used to raise the shaft g by catching it under the hub g, and thus disengaging the shaft g from its drum G. Thelshaft'f/ passes through a large hole in sliding plate 7s, and when this shaft g has been raisedby means of lever p the spring Z draws the plate k under the shoulder of hub g and keeps the shaft in an elevated position.

To the drum G the rope or chain c is attached, which is carried off to thestationary pulley-block F] and passed under one of the pulleys in this block, thence up over pulley c in post D, and thence to the follower C, to which this rope c is attached. Rope c is only used to draw up the follower-block C. A rope, s, is attached at one end to drum G, and passes off under the press and through the pulley-blocks E and D, and another rope, t, is attached at one end to the drum G, and carried off and passed through stationary block E and block D. The two ropes, s and t, which are attached to drum G, are used to draw down the follower with sufficient force to press the cotton, which is put in the press box. G is therefore the pressing-drum and G the releasing-drum; or, in other words,

, when the drum G winds up its ropes s and t the follower C is forcibly pulled down in the pressing-box B, and when the drum G winds up its rope c the follower C is elevated in its press-box.

The operation of the entire machine is as follows: 'A horse is hitched to the sweep H and driven around in a circle in the direction indicated by the red arrow in Fig. l of the drawings. The lever p is forced down on top of the frame F, and its hook p isv caught over the end of the horizontal beam, on which it rests. This operation moves the sliding plate 7c forward and disengages the pinion-wheel j driven around and the shaft g will not operate upon either of the drums Gor G. The

two removable sides of the press-box B are` taken out, the follower or pressing-head G being in an elevated state, and the necessary quantity of cotton to be pressed into a bale is packed into the press-box under the follower. The sides of box B', which were taken out, are now put back and secured in their places, and the operation of pressing the cotton in the box B is conducted as follows: The hooked end of the lever p is released and the springl draws plate k back and allows the shaft g to drop down, so that the tooth t' on hub 7L of spur-wheel 7L will be engaged with the drum G. This drum G will now be rotated, and as it winds up the ropes s andt these ropes will act upon both ends of the beam D and pull down the4 follower, which will press the cotton. The bale is now immediately bound with straps, and thc follower C is elevated by depresing the long arm of lever p, and thus raising the shaft g and detaching this shaft from hub g', at the same time engaging the teeth of spur-wheel 7b with the pinionwheel j, so that while the drum will allow the ropes s and t to unwind from it the gearing h and j will give motion to drum G, and wind the rope c upon it, thus drawing up the follower G. Now, as the follower G is being raised the press-box B can be filled again, and when filled it can be brought down again by allowing the shaft g to drop, so that the tooth 'i on hub f/ will engage with the drum G and thus rotate this drum G again, so as to wind up the ropes s and 1.v It will be understood that when the shaft g is in a position to rotate the drum G the spur-wheel h will not engage with wheel j, but will allow drum G to turn loosely with its shaft. The drums G and G may in this manner, and by the above-described arrangement of parts, be made to alternately wind up and unwind their respective ropes while the horse continues to move round in a circle.

Having thus described my invention, what claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Combining with the drums G and G, arranged as desbribed, the loose shaft g, with its lever l-I, spur-wheel 7L, with its toothed hub fr', spur-wheel j, sliding plate 7c, levers m and p, all arranged substantially as set forth, and causing the drums G and G to operate upon their respective ropes c and st as herein speer fied.

VILBUR READ.

Witnesses:

JOHN M. MAY, Josnrrr HENRY. 

